I thrive on routine. I need it almost like a drug, a drug that keeps me sane on crazy days. The dishes can be piled in the sink, laundry overflowing the baskets and the telephone calling my name, but if it’s time to start our second-grade lessons, then we start.

The gossip – or crisis – on the other end of the phone line can take a time-out like a naughty toddler. Stick the dirty dishes in the corner and ignore them. Well, not really. I may just wash those dishes while Susan attacks her math paper. But I’m good at ignoring the laundry and I have taken the phone off the hook.

I’m fond of my routine. It’s wonderfully predictiable. And I like to know where I’m going and how I’m going to get there, homeschooling wise.

And if the school work don’t get done right after the Pop-tarts, it ain’t going to get done at all. That’s part of the routine I need to improve on this coming year.